Archaic Weapons: Graves and Sanctuaries (Part 2)

Thasos and her sanctuaries

Around the second quarter of the 7^th century, the first indications of an organized Greek settlement can be identified on and around the Thasos acropolis. The sanctuaries of Apollo and Athena on the acropolis hill, and of Heracles and Artemis near the 6^th-century agora are established. The material recovered from these sanctuaries consists primarily of fine pottery, jewelry, loom weights, figurines and statuary. Unfortunately, very little in the way of early votive weaponry has been recovered from these holy sites. This is quite interesting: in the central and southern Aegean, weapon dedications in sanctuaries are considerably more common than in the Thasian sphere during the 7^th and particularly the 6^th century.

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May 12, 2018March 11, 2020

Early Weapons: Spears, Swords and Pocket-knives (Part 1)

In previous posts, we established the basic geographical and historical context of our study; it is now time to discuss the actual archaeological evidence. We will begin with the earliest, pre-apoikism periods, and have a closer look at what types of weaponry have been brought to light.

The blades of Kastri

Thasos, and specifically the site of Kastri, has provided us with the most extensive corpus of early knife and dagger blades on the island. More than fifty distinct blades (both bronze and iron) have been identified, primarily from the cemeteries of the settlement. Their typology is varied (Koukouli-Chrysanthaki, in her original study, Protohistoric Thasos, identifies at least five separate bronze types, and several more iron ones). It is difficult to establish a strict typological sequence, given the partial state of preservation of many of the blades and the disturbed stratigraphy of many of the graves: these built chamber tombs had been frequently re-used during antiquity, in some cases several dozen times.

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February 27, 2018

ΑΕΜΘ participation: 8-10 March 2018

We interrupt our regular schedule for an announcement:

On the 8th of March, we will be participating in this year’s Το Αρχαιολογικό Έργο στη Μακεδονία και τη Θράκη (ΑΕΜΘ) conference, in Thessaloniki.

The ΑΕΜΘ is an annual conference dedicated to the presentation of new archaeological discoveries and innovative historical / archaeological / archaeometric research regarding the regions of Macedonia and Thrace. It hosts scholars from the Greek Ephorates of Antiquities, from Greek and International Universities, from International Archaeology Schools based in Greece, as well as independent researchers. The regularly published ΑΕΜΘ Conference Proceedings have, over the past thirty years, become the most prestigious publication for the latest work in the area.

Our participation will be titled:

“Στυγερὰν κἀγώ ποτε δῆριν Ἄρηος ἐκπρολιποῦσα: Αναθήματα όπλων στο αρχαϊκό ιερό της Οισύμης”

“One day, I too abandoned the hateful strife of Ares: Weapon dedications in the Archaic sanctuary of Oisyme”

It will be presented by Dr. Yangos Chalazonitis, in collaboration with Dr. Chaido Koukouli-Chrysanthaki, Emeritus Ephor of Antiquities